The invention relates to a sensor apparatus for a packaging machine, which is in the form of a capsule filling and closing machine, or for a capsule monitoring apparatus.
A sensor apparatus such as this is known from DE 10 2005 016 124 A1. The known sensor apparatus is arranged in the area of a capsule filling and closing device and has an X-ray radiation source which passes radiation through containers in the longitudinal direction, which containers are filled with a filling material, for example a pharmaceutical product in the form of powder. A detector is arranged on the side of the container opposite the X-ray radiation source, measures the X-ray radiation after it passes through the container, and supplies this in analog form to an evaluation device. In particular, the weight of the filling material in the containers is determined by means of the sensor apparatus that is so far known.
This has the disadvantage that, because the containers are arranged in step-like holding holes in holding segments, when the radiation is passed through the containers, their entire cross section is not detected, with a portion of the cross section instead being covered by the holding hole. The result is therefore dependent on the geometry of the holding hole, and the measurement result may be corrupted. Additional statements can be made only with difficulty, if at all, because radiation is passed through the containers in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the containers, since the radiation passes through only a relatively limited area of the container.
DE 198 19 395° C.1, from the same applicant, discloses a weighing device for weighing hard-gelatin capsules, which has a feed element in the form of a flywheel which in each case moves a capsule into the area of a weighing goods holder, which is arranged in a suspended manner, and feeds the capsule on further therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,600 discloses an image-processing monitoring device, in which the filling level in containers is checked by means of a beam source, with the beam passing through the containers at right angles to their container longitudinal axis. The containers are in this case arranged at a distance from one another on a horizontally arranged feed device.